Funeral
Mourners remember ‘angel’; Ephraim Brown dreamed of becoming a mechanic, having good friends and staying out of trouble
Jen Gerson
707 words
29 July 2007
The mothers of Toronto sons killed and maimed by bullets paid their respects at the funeral of 11-year-old Ephraim Brown – the latest young victim.
Ephraim’s service yesterday was held in a church within sight of a telephone-pole memorial in the boy’s Jane St. and Sheppard Ave. W. neighbourhood, marked with candles and bouquets tied with police tape. It was there a week ago that Ephraim was shot through the neck in apparent gang crossfire. He died soon after in hospital.
“If you go inside, it’s just a broken heart,” said Suzette Cadougan, standing outside the Emmanuel Church of the Nazarene.
Three years ago, her son, Shaquan, then 4 years old, was injured in a drive-by shooting just a few blocks north. A suspect in Ephraim’s killing was at one time linked to the Shaquan shooting, but those charges were later dropped.
“Yesterday (Shaquan) was crying in pain and saying that he felt the bullets,” Cadougan said. “My heart is bleeding for that mother who lost her 11-year-old.”
Loreen Small, the mother of Jordan Manners, the 15-year-old murdered at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute in May, also attended Ephraim’s funeral. She left after the service ended, and said nothing.
Inside the church, the mourners tried to make sense of the loss.
“You are a caramel angel,” Ephraim’s older sister, Amanda Taylor, said in her eulogy. “Blue Sapphire, we will never forget you.”
“Even though he was the most talented on the (basketball) court, he was willing to help everyone,” Ryan Brown, Ephraim’s uncle, said during the eulogy. “You will always be in our minds. We will speak to you and laugh with you.”
In the public housing complex where Ephraim lived, LaToya Jenkins sat smoking a cigarette in her doorway, avoiding the service.
“He had good manners. He was a very polite little boy,” said Jenkins, a mother of two. “He loved riding his bike and playing soccer.”
She pointed to her left, to a playground with a spiral slide and a tic-tac-toe set. It was deserted.
“It’s Saturday,” she said, “all the kids are usually right there at the park.” It hasn’t been like that since Ephraim was shot.
“Whoever did this really messed up our community,” she said.
Three men in their twenties have been arrested in the shootout that killed Ephraim at a birthday party last Sunday: Gregory Sappleton, Akiel Eubank and Sheldon Gladstone Evans – all alleged members of the 5 Point Generals gang.
Like many of the neighbourhoods that line Jane St. in north Toronto, this one is troubled. Locals recently fought to get a community centre, but were denied by the city, said Councillor Maria Augimeri.
“There is no political will to change things in this community,” she said, fighting tears after the service. “I’ve been serving in this community for two decades and it’s getting worse and worse.”
Adonis Clarke, 12, had known Ephraim since Grade 1.
“He was funny, nice. Very playful,” he said.
And of Ephraim’s death?
“I’m going to be unhappy some of the time.”
In a school assignment about his future Ephraim had written that he wanted to be a mechanic, have good friends and stay out of trouble.
His tutor, Jennifer Clark, told mourners he was a curious boy, excited about learning and his future.
Mothers left the funeral red-eyed, and held their school-aged sons.
“My son was the same age,” said Synteca Charles, whose boy used to play with Ephraim. “I know I don’t want my children to be outside late at night. I live two houses away.”
Her son approached and pointed across the street.
“Going home?” Charles asked.
He nodded.
“Don’t go without me. Come.”
